KOH Project

A materials list, including cost and where you will purchase/obtain the items

• Mason Jar Straws $2 Each/Michael's
• Rubber Bands $3/Michael's
• Mouse Trap $1.99/Home Depot
• CDs $1/Garage Sale
• Fishing Rod $1
• Plastic hand cuffs $3/Home Depot

What was your objective? What were you trying to accomplish?
A justification statement, describing why you have made these design decisions.

We have decided to build a light car in order for it to be able to travel at a high velocity. The hollow straws and the fishing rod will have little impact on the thin discs so it doesn't weigh down on the wheels. When we are able to center the force on the straws, the balance will result in the object traveling in a straight direction, fast. The hot glue will help make sure the parts of our car will be held secure until the day of the ramp test. We decided to use only one mouse trap with a short rod because using two would just waste energy and reduce the chances of the car traveling at its maximum speed in tandem. We also made sure to not put the weight over the drive axle, but in the front. Doing so increased the speed since we were going uphill. Adding rubber bands on the wheels would add friction and propel the car to go faster against the wooden surface. Our overall objective was to create an offensive car that would simply win the round by getting to the top of the ramp before the other car. We were able to accomplish this goal after several test runs, modifications, and our willingness to do the best we can.
good! Equations:

• f*t= mvf-mvi
• mvi1(v1i)+mvi2(v2i)=mv1f*m1f

• Forces: What forces will act on your car? How will the value of the force affect the performance of your car?

The forces of gravity, normal force, force of lever (mouse trap), and the force of friction will be acting on the car. The normal force will determine how fast the car will be able to go. Force of the mouse trap will also play a factor in the velocity and acceleration during the competition. If a great force is applied, the further the car would travel. The force of friction will be acting against the car to slow it down since the ramp will be wood and also uphill.

• Motion: What velocity changes will your car undergo during the competition? Will your car accelerate? How and at what points?

Greater acceleration can be achieved by increasing the power torque, using a short lever arm, and having a light weight car. The car will accelerate in its starting points after setting off the mouse trap, when there is the most force acted upon the car from the direct power torque. However, we are expecting the velocity to decrease as the car approaches the top due to the slanted, uphill angle of the ramp.

• Mass/Weight: How do the mass and weight of your car affect its performance during the competition?

Having a lightweight car will determine the amount of velocity the car will be traveling at. Because the wheels will have less weight to carry than most cars, there will be less pressure on the CDs and more room for the wheels to turn. The negative side of the light weight is that it might get ran over by a car that is heavier. Hopefully this doesn't have to happen if the car is able to reach the top of the ramp before the competitor's car does. 

• Newton’s Laws: How do Newton’s 1^st and 3^rd Laws apply during the competition?

1st Law states that every object will remain at rest or in uniform motion in a straight line unless compelled to change its state by the action of an external force. The car will remain at rest on the bottom of the ramp until a force is acted upon the object (in this case, the mouse trap lever.) Or, it will continue to travel in a straight line until the car comes into contact with the car coming from the opposite direction during the competition. 3rd Law states that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. The statement means that in every interaction, there is a pair of forces acting on the two interacting objects. The size of the forces on the first object equals the size of the force on the second object. When the two cars collide at the top of the ramp, both would experience the equal amount of force. As our car would push the other car, the other car would push ours back. nice

• Momentum/Impulse: Describe what will happen at the top of the hill, in terms of momentum and impulse.

Momentum can be calculated as mass times velocity. The greater the mass or velocity, the more momentum the object will have. Because our car will be focusing more on speed, it could have more momentum than the other car. When the two cars crash at the top of the hill, they will experience equal and opposite forces as well as same time of impact. But, if the cars vary in masses, they will experience different changes in velocity or acceleration. This determined who wins the round during the competition. 

• Did you make any modifications to your original plans before you ran it on the ramp? If so, describe them and explain why you made these modifications. The explanation should be in terms of physics concepts as you used in the justification statement.
  
  There were no major modifications made to our original plans, besides the wheels. Because we weren't able to find small wheels, we used CDs. Large wheels increase the rotational inertia while small wheels do not. They were helpful because they were thin; when going up hill, we wanted to divert all energy into a small surface area. 
  
  
• Describing your car’s run on the ramp in terms of displacement, velocities and accelerations. Did it get up to speed quickly and then slow down? Did it get up to speed slowly? Did it vary its acceleration (speeding up, slowing down, etc.)?
  
  
  

  In terms of displacement, our car was able to get to the top of our ramp every time. As we would set off the mouse trap lever, the car would  gradually decrease in velocity as it approaches the top. The maximum acceleration of a mousetrap vehicle depends on the amount of grip or traction the vehicle's drive wheels have on the road surface. It was important to make sure the lever was able to strike from 180 degrees to ensure the maximum force exerted on the car. The length of the lever also determined the car's displacement as well as velocity. 

  
  
• Discussing the car’s performance on the ramp in terms of your plans. Did you plan certain features into the car and did the car’s performance benefit from these features? Or did the car not perform as you had planned and hoped? If so, what do you think went wrong in terms of planning or performance? At the minimum, you should discuss the plans you discussed in the justification statement. But you may also discuss other plans that unfolded as you constructed your car.
  
  I planned on making the car light as possible with light, plastic materials. Because we were able to center the straws and the handcuffs to the center of the object, the car moved in a straight line along the ramp. Because we made the hand cuffs loose, the straws that were glued to the wheels were able to move freely once propelled by the lever. The car performed as well as we had hoped, until the Sweet Sixteen round when we were met by a car that weighed more than ours. We realized that even though our car was pretty light, the handcuffs were weighing down on the wheels and did not let the car move as fast as it could have. We had trouble finding a way that would keep the mouse trap stable while the wheels turned on both sides. 
  
  
• Will you make any further modifications to the car after its performance on the ramp? If so, what? Explain in terms of physics equations as in the justification statement. If you didn’t make any further modifications, explain why you were satisfied with the car as it is.   

We didn't make any further modifications due to the fact that our car was able to get to the top of the ramp fast and in a straight direction. This was our main objective and that was what our car was able to accomplish. 

Describe each of your car’s races. Describe your reaction to the competition. 

Since we were automatically advanced into the second round, we were relieved to find out that we would have less rounds to go through. In the first actual race, the other group forfeited. Then, the next team's car wasn't able to move more than 5 inches from the starting position. Until this point, we were surprised at how lucky we were getting. But we knew that there were impressive cars in the contest and that there was tough challenges ahead of us. Before the next round, one of our friends broke one of our wheels of so we had to attempt to put the wheel back in its place without an access to hot glue. This could have also had an affect on our loss in the next round. We were matched up with a car that was twice our car's weight. Once the cars met at the top, the other car ran over ours. We were crushed because if we had won that round, we would have advanced to the Elite Eights. Overall, this was a fun experience. My partner and I learned a lot about mouse-trap cars and were impressed at how our peers were able to construct cars.so close!!!

Ramp Test Evaluation

 Were you successful? If so, why? If not, why not? Remember to use physics language in your descriptions. In general, was there a car type that was more successful than others? What features did the winning cars have that made them successful? If you were to do this project again, what specific things would you improve? How?

In my opinion, we were successful, because we were able to construct an actual propelled car from scratch. We didn't think our car would be very sturdy or get as far into the competition as we did. Because it was light, but fast it was able to win the rounds where the other car had less velocity or acceleration. The types of cars that were the most successful were the ones that were heavy but also fast. The wooden cars seemed to do the best in the competition. Those ones had small wheels, centered weight, and a powerful propeller. If we were to do the project again, we would construct the car so that it would be more stable and heavy so that it would be able to go against a car that's heavier than ours. 

Ticker Tape

NG 1: Key Question
What is the relationship between position and time for a cart rolling down a ramp? What is the relationship between velocity and time for a cart rolling down a ramp? 

NG2:
Photo

·       Explanation of how you used the ticker timer to get the data for position and time

We placed a circle carbon paper that marked the placement of the car for every 0.1 second. As the car rolled down the ramp, there would be a black mark every tenth of a second as the dots spread out. After concluding this part, we measured with a ruler the distance (cm) between every sixth dots since the timer consisted of 60 Hertz. 

·       Data table for position and time, labeled with variable name and units

Time (seconds)	Position (cm)
0.1s	0.9cm
0.2s	4cm
0.3s	10.6cm
0.4s	20.5cm
0.5s	34cm
0.6s	51cm
0.7s	80.5cm

·       Explanation of how you use the ticker timer TAPE to create your v v t graph

 In order to make the v v t graph, we cut the tape for every 6th dot that was marked earlier. After ending up with seven shorter tapes, I glued them onto an x y graph, placing the tapes in order from 1-6th dot, 6-12th dot, 12-18th dot, etc./shortest to longest. This showed the constant acceleration of the object in a positive direction. 

NG 3 – Analysis

·       Position vs time graph, labeled axes, title, and trendline with equation

y=24.26x^2=1.85x+0.46

·       Verbal model for x vs t graph
As time increases, the position increases increasingly. 

·       Math model for x vs t graph (with units for the constant #)
x=(24.26cm/s^2)t^2

·       Verbal model for v vs t graph
As time increases, velocity increases proportionally. 

·       Math model for v vs t graph (with only variables, no #s)
v=(a)t+Vi

·       Slope of v vs t means…..
How many cm per second it increasedwas for every second called...??  Acceleration

·       Y-int of v vs t means…..
the starting velocity of the first interval
Velocity of the car increased constantly for every second

NG 4 – Models

·       Using Challenge 2 and your graphs as a guide, summarize the TWO new equations that were developed in this lab, and how we discovered them
x=1/2at^2 is inferred from the position time graph which represents x=1/2 of the slope or cm/s^2 of the velocity graph times the time squared. The velocity of the velocity graph is twice the position vs time graph's slope.

Vf=at+Vi is the equation to represent the final velocity. It is another way to write y=mx+b equation. (aka y=slope+y intercept) The slope can be written as cm/s^2 which is the change of y/change of x.

·       What does the area under the velocity graph represent?
The area under the velocity graph represents the amount of displacement.
good

NG 5 – Explaining

·       Did each have the same numbers for the constants and slopes?  Why or why not?
No, because it varied on the position of the ramp. While some had steep slopes from placing two boxes underneath causing their velocity to be more, others only placed one box under the ramp causing the velocity to be less. yes

·       Discuss any errors in your experiment and how you could correct them.
A simple error such as marking the wrong dot could potentially have thrown my graphs off. Luckily, I caught the mistake before making any further inferences. Next time I will pay more attention and compare my reports to each other to make sure I did not make any mistakes. 

·       Discuss another idea for something you would like to test regarding acceleration and how you could test it.

We could test the same experiments with different variables such as weight, direction, and time. It would be interesting to see what changes when you have a heavier car, or cause the car to go in a negative direction, or having to deal with a ticker timer that measures slower than 0.1 second.  good ideas!

Marshmallow Lab

Experiment 1
Key Question
How does the length of the tube affect the distance of the marshmallow from the starting point?

Procedure
1) Cut out an outline of three rectangles from a manila folder.
2) Created 3 tubes of different lengths: short, medium, long.
     Long: 11.5 in
     Medium: 7.5 in
     Short: 4 in
3) Placed the marshmallow at the end of the tube we are going to exert the force from.
4) Found an open area, like the hallway, where we laid out 3 39 inch rulers after each other in order to record the spots the marshmallow landed.
5) Keeping the force, height, mass of the marshmallow, and position of the marshmallow in the tube the same, we blew the same marshmallow from the tubes with three varying lengths.
6) Recorded the distance traveled by the marshmallow from the starting point.
good
Variable List
IV: Length of tube
DV: Distance of marshmallow from the starting point
CV: Marshmallow, position, height, force of blow

Data Table

Length of Tube	Distance
Long	117 in
Medium	99 in
Short	87 in

Verbal Statement
As the length of the tube increases, the distance of the marshmallow from the starting point increases.

The results proved to be this way because the marshmallow's distance depended on the amount of time the object had to travel through the tube. The shortest tube traveled the least distance because the marshmallow had the least time to travel. The marshmallow had traveled the farthest in the first trial because it had the most time to travel through the long tube and landed 117 inches away from the starting point. In other words, the more time the marshmallow has to travel through the tube, the farther it will travel. We would have gotten the same results we had tested different positions inside the tube.






Experiment 2 
Key Question
How does the mass of the marshmallow affect the distance of the marshmallow from the starting point?

Procedure
Repeated the same procedure from Experiment 1 except:
Keeping the force, height, length of the tube, and position of the marshmallow in the tube the same, we blew the marshmallows with three varying masses from the same tube.
     a) One marshmallow by itself, 2 marshmallows taped together, 3 marshmallows taped together

Variable List
IV: Mass of marshmallow
DV: Distance of marshmallow from the starting point
CV: Force, height, length of the tube, position

Data Table

Mass of Marshmallow	Distance
1 Marshmallow	209 in
2 Marshmallows	140 in
3 Marshmallows	78 in

Verbal Statement

As the mass of the marshmallow increases, the distance of the marshmallow from the starting point decreases. ok

This time, the only thing that is being altered is the mass of the marshmallow. After running three trials, it was evident that the distance from the starting point became increasingly shorter as the mass of the marshmallow increased. From the data table,   the distance was far less with three marshmallows compared to one marshmallow. The velocity of the one marshmallow seemed to be far greater as opposed to two or three marshmallows. yes





From this experiment, we can come up with the equation of
F x t=m x (delta)V
F=force t=time m=mass (delta)V=change in velocity
As the force increases, the change in velocity increases respectively according to the amount of force increased in order to balance both sides.

We can also use this equation for Experiment 1. As the time increases, the change in velocity increases respectively according to the amount of force increased in order to balance both sides. The longer the tube, the longer it takes for the marshmallow to travel through the tube. Lengthening the time traveling through the tube makes the marshmallow faster because it gives the object enough time to act upon the force being exerted from the blower. The change in momentum(m x delta V) changes respectively to the amount of impulse (Fxt) so therefore, the more impulse the more change in momentum. but WHY does longer time traveling in the tube make it faster....This will result in the marshmallow traveling greater distance hence the increased velocity.

Another way to write the equation is J=(delta)p
J is amount of impulse and (delta)p is another way to write the product of the force and time

In summary, the equations J=(delta)p, Fxt=mx(delta)v are the same

Experiment 3 

Key Question 

How does the height of the shooter affect the distance of the marshmallow from the starting point?

Procedure

Repeated the same procedure from Experiment 1 except:
Keeping the force, mass of marshmallow, length of the tube, and position the same, we blew the marshmallows with three varying heights from the same tube.
     a) On a chair, standing up, and on knees
        On a chair: 87 in
        Standing up: 66 in
        On Knees 47 in

Variable List
IV: Height of the Shooter
DV: Distance of marshmallow from the starting point
CV: Force, mass of marshmallow, length of the tube, position of the marshmallow in the tube

Data Table

Height of Shooter	Distance
On a chair	188 in
Standing up	130 in
On knees	69 in

Verbal Statement
As the height of the shooter increases, the distance of the marshmallow from the starting point increases.

This experiment is a little different from the rest. Since only the height is being altered, the speed remains the same. The marshmallow experiences the same amount of force, time, and then the impulse. Therefore leaving the tube at the same speed.  very good The factor that lets the taller height travel a greater distance is the fact that there is more time for the marshmallow to reach the ground, hence being able to travel a greater distance. But if you're on your knees, the marshmallow will reach the ground a lot faster. The distance of the marshmallow that traveled from the chair compared to on knees, had a 119 inch difference. These series of trials did not test how the independent variables affect the momentum like the other two, but proved how the object will travel a greater distance if a force acted upon from a taller height. yes
                                               


If I had wanted to test how the force of air affects the distance of the marshmallow from the starting point:

Variable List
IV: Force of Air
DV: Distance of marshmallow from the starting point
CV: Mass of marshmallow, length of the tube, height of the shooter

Procedure
Repeat the same procedure from Experiment 1 except:
Keeping the mass, height, length of the tube, and position of the marshmallow in the tube the same, we would blow the marshmallows with three varying forces from the same tube.
      a) Hard, medium, light

Verbal Statement
As the force of the blow increases, the distance of the marshmallow from the starting point increases.

Following the J=(delta)p equation, if the force acting upon the marshmallow is great, so would the velocity of the object. Because both sides of the equation needs to be balanced at all times, greater the impulse, greater the velocity. The marshmallow would have traveled the farthest during the hardest blow.


Based on all of my data collected, changing the length of the tube, the mass of the marshmallow, the height of the shooter, and the force of the blow exerted by the shooter all have an affect on the amount of distance traveled by the marshmallow. If I wanted my marshmallow to shoot the farthest possible, I would shoot one marshmallow out of a long tube while standing on a chair.
The longer the tube, the more the marshmallow will travel.
The less the marshmallow weighs, the more the marshmallow will travel.
The higher the shooter, the more the marshmallow will travel.
The harder the force, the more the marshmallow will travel.
good!

Error Analysis
In order to make this lab effective as possible, make sure to discuss and determine your independent, dependent, and constant variables prior to the experiment. A small change such as a different shooter or a tube could alter the whole experiment. You could also repeat an experiment a couple of times then find the average in order to get the most precise data. yes, always a good idea!  Nice work!